[Marxism] Re: Numbers question

[l.willms@xxxxxxxxxxx (Lueko Willms)]

.    Am  07.08.04
schrieb  andromeda246@xxxxxxxxx (Jurriaan Bendien)
    auf  /ALIST/MARXMAIL
     in  01da01c47c79$88ade000$0100000a@jurriaan
  ueber  [Marxism] Numbers question

JB> I had mistakenly thought that party bodies in the different US states
JB> actually had party membership lists of people who had affiliated and
JB> paid party dues, and that somebody would then have aggregated the
JB> numbers of members nationally, so that you could say that the
JB> Democrats have X number of "members" nationally and Republicans have
JB> Y number of "members" nationally. But this turns out not to be the
JB> case, at most you can estimate a political participation level around
JB> election time, which typically varies from about 300,000 to 600,000
JB> people (paid staffs, volunteers, cheerleaders, etc.).

   On the other hand, people in the USA cannot simply go to the  
polling station and vote, they have to register as voters before.

   And when registering, I understand, they have to register their  
party affiliation, or preference. Malcolm X called on his supporters:  
"Register as independent!".

   What this registration of party affiliation means, should please be  
explained by some comrade from the USA, I do not fully understand it.

   Anyway, the party adminstrations then have registers of their  
affiliates; during the primaries this year, it was mentioned, that one  
of the expenses of the pre-candidates running in the primaries is the  
price they have to pay for buying this address list, so that they can  
use it for mailings or telephone calling campaigns.

   Here in Germany, registration as a voter is completely superfluous,  
since one has to register with the local municipality, or risk a fine.  
The municipalitiy will then send in time before each election a card  
with the information on the address of the polling station to be used;  
this card or an ID card then is to be presented at the polling station  
for identification.

   Not having this "Meldepflicht" (compulsory registration) and no  
national ID card, is of course a democratic trait of the USA, but this  
voter registration is quite a nuisance on the other hand, since it can  
be used to exclude a lot of people from voting.

   And this system of voluntary voter registration is apparently being  
pushed by the USA occupation forces in Afghanistan and Iraq to make  
elections more complicated...


Yours,
Lüko Willms                                     http://www.mlwerke.de
/--------- L.WILLMS@xxxxxxxxxxx -- Alle Rechte vorbehalten --

"Es sind nicht die Generäle und Könige, die die Geschichte machen,
sondern die breiten Massen des Volkes"                - Nelson Mandela

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